The Sedition Act of 1798: Silencing Dissent and Sparking Resistance
The Sedition Act of 1798 marked one of the most extreme restrictions on free speech in American history, criminalizing criticism of the government and making it illegal to publish anything that could “bring them or either of them into contempt or disrepute.” The law...
Whose Job is it to Keep the Feds in Line?
For the federal government to take even a “single step” beyond the limits of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.” The “detestable precedent” is how John Dickinson...
Forever Prisoners
I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.” -Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 30, 1787 When Thomas Jefferson wrote to his friend, neighbor and colleague, James Madison, his view that...